Hindu man celebrating Holi beaten and pelted with stones by Muslims, casteist slurs hurled

Case ID : f6648ea | Location : Fatehpur, Rajasthan, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 13 March, 2025

Case ID : f6648ea

Fatehpur, Rajasthan, India

13 March, 2025

Hindu man celebrating Holi beaten and pelted with stones by Muslims, casteist slurs hurled

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Hate speech against Hindus

Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith

Restriction/ban on Hindu practices

Restriction on expression of Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Fatehpur, Sikar district, Rajasthan, a Hindu man belonging to the Dalit community, playing Holi and dancing to DJ music, was attacked by a group of Muslims. They hurled casteist slurs at him, beat him up, and then threw stones at him. A Dalit Hindu man, Vijay Dayama, son of Bhagatram Khatik, a resident of Mohalla Khatikan, was celebrating Holi with Hindus from his locality. Following this, a group of 15-20 Muslims, including Abbas, Adil, and Wasib, arrived and started stopping the DJ. They also abused Vijay with casteist slurs. Vijay opposed them and stated that he would celebrate the festival in the locality. This angered the Muslims. They physically assaulted and pelted stones at him, resulting in a head injury. The attack on Vijay angered the local Hindus, and they surrounded the Kotwali police station, demanding the arrest of the attackers. The victim, Vijay, filed a complaint at the police station. The police began the investigation and managed to arrest four attackers. Kotwali police station in-charge Surendra Singh calmed the matter by assuring appropriate action.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been categorised as a hate crime against Hindus in the Hinduphobia tracker under two primary categories, given the clear religious markers that establish its targeted nature. The first is- Attack not resulting in death and within this, the sub-category selected is- Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. The second category selected is- Restriction/ban on Hindu practices. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Restriction on expression of Hindu identity. An example of the state-affected prejudicial and targeted orders against the Hindu community would be a government denying the right of a Hindu or a group of Hindus to hold a religious procession owing to the animosity of non-Hindu groups. Denial of the religious right of the Hindus to assuage the non-Hindu group which harbours animosity to a point where it could lead to violence against Hindus is not only a failure of law and order but is a prejudicial order against Hindus, denying them their fundamental rights to express their religious identity. An example of a hate crime against Hindus by a non-Hindu would be a non-Hindu institution forcing its Hindu employees to abandon religious symbols that a Hindu would wear as an expression of faith owing to inherent prejudice against the faith professed by the victim or a non-Hindu group of people restricting a Hindu group from constructing a place of worship simply because the demography of the area in which the temple is being built is dominated by non-Hindus. Such actions are driven by religious animosity and/or prejudice against Hindus and their faith and would therefore be categorised as a hate crime. The third category is- Hate Speech Against Hindus. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Anti-Hindu slurs/Mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. Here, the victims were attacked solely because they were Hindus engaging in Holi celebrations—a festival deeply rooted in Hindu tradition. The perpetrators did not simply oppose a public gathering but explicitly attacked the Hindu festival itself, reinforcing the religiously motivated nature of the crime. The stone pelting was not merely an act of physical violence but a direct attempt to curtail the religious and cultural rights of Hindus. Holi, a festival celebrated with joy and colour, symbolises the triumph of good over evil and is an integral part of Hindu religious and cultural identity. The attempt to disrupt Holi celebrations demonstrates an intent to create an environment where Hindus feel unsafe practising their faith—a clear marker of religious persecution. Given these aspects, this case has been added to the Hinduphobia tracker, as it exemplifies a deliberate attack on Hindu identity and an attempt to impose restrictions on Hindu religious practices through coercion and violence. Furthermore, the use of casteist slurs further strengthens the religious motivation behind the crime and reinforces the targeted nature of the assault against a Hindu Dalit man. It may be argued that a caste-specific slur is aimed at her micro identity of belonging to the Dalit section of the Hindu community and not her Hindu identity itself. However, as far as Abrahamic religions are concerned, the micro identities of caste, region, and language are secondary. It is the religious identity that drives the animosity of the perpetrator against the Hindu victim.